On Saturday, just hours before the event, Corey Helford disclosed the location of artist Brandi Milne’s emotional new work, 2-years in the making. Their large warehouse pop-up space hosted a carnival-style opening, complete with cotton candy, but thematically, “Here Inside My Broken Heart” is Milne’s most intimate show. Milne’s latest series of paintings interprets the ups and downs of her own broken heart with layered imagery. Her sugary sweet, lyrical paintings are far less literal than her previous offering at Corey Helford, “Before I Hide Away” (covered here). Gone are the handwritten quotes Milne strung throughout her narrative, perhaps allowing her work to speak for itself.

Brandi Milne, with her work at the opening.

Milne admits that while Disney characters and Halloween may seem like a funny mix, they are a constant source of inspiration for her. Halloween is a unique holiday that combines conflicting images of horror with happy colors and candy. Milne uses this same juxtaposition to create a snowy world populated by costumed characters like Jack-o-lanterns, swans carrying bleeding hearts, Monstro the whale, Bambi as a fawn, and Captain Hook’s pirate ship sailing into the moonlight. But, they do not delight in holiday celebrations. Drawn in her surreal, elongated style, Milne’s creatures appear very much out of place, ‘fish out of water’, and uneasy despite their exciting environment. Although comprised from fairytales, this portrayal brings a sense of reality to Milne’s otherwise dreamy visions.